


Silver and Gold

by regenderate



Series: Fanzine Prompts [2]
Category: Doctor Who
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-02-10 11:09:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18659242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/regenderate/pseuds/regenderate
Summary: For thirteenfanzine's "old friends" prompt. Dimension-hopping Rose hops right into one of the Doctor's adventures. Only problem is, it's the not the Doctor she was looking for.





	Silver and Gold

It happened unexpectedly, on a beautiful day. Most things happened that way for the Doctor, really, but this was extra unexpected, and the day was, in turn, extra beautiful, with sunlight filtering through the leaves as she led Ryan, Graham, and Yaz through a forest on one of her favorite planets. They had been walking for about ten minutes, trying to find a treetop village the Doctor was sure was around there somewhere, when suddenly the beauty was drowned out by a bright white light attacking her eyes from one side.

She turned, blinking to clear the spots from her eyes. For a moment she was near-blinded, and for another moment Ryan was standing between her and the source of the light, but then Ryan stepped back in surprise and the Doctor could see--

No, there was no way that was right. She rubbed her eyes.

The image in front of her didn’t change, didn’t warp, didn’t shift.

The Doctor blinked again. She pinched herself. It hurt. Not a dream, then.

This was real.

In front of her stood Rose Tyler, blonde hair cropped at the shoulders, an impressive-looking gun in her arms, and a strange disappointment echoing on her face.

There was a long moment of silence, the Doctor looking at Rose, Rose staring back. Next to her, the Doctor heard Ryan whisper, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing to worry about,” the Doctor said, still looking at Rose.

Rose took two steps closer.

“Do I know you?” she asked.

The Doctor shook her head vigorously.

“Nope,” she said. “Never seen you before in my life. Just on my way to enjoy a forest festival with my fam. Right, fam?”

“That’s about it, yeah,” Graham said. “If you don’t mind my asking, what are you doing here?”

“Just looking for an old friend,” Rose said. She was still looking at the Doctor. “Thought I had tracked him, but maybe not.”

“I’m sure you’ll find him,” the Doctor said. She hesitated. This was when she was supposed to walk away, turn her back and go find the treetop village and never see Rose Tyler again.

But she didn’t.

“We’re going to see Galibor Village,” she added, ignoring surprised looks from the others. “Got some friends there and all. Want to join us?”

“Sorry,” Rose said. “I can’t. Got to find my friend.”

“Oh,” the Doctor said. She felt unwitting tears in her eyes, and she blinked, hoping they would disappear. “Of course.”

“Are you all right?” Rose asked. “I’m sorry, I really shouldn’t be here.”

The Doctor looked up at her. She tried to hold up her carefree-stranger mask for a moment longer, but then a tear dropped, and she knew she was done for. Rose’s face softened.

“Doctor?” she asked.

“Sorry,” the Doctor said. “This isn’t meant to happen.” She waved a hand. “Timeline’s gotten all mixed up. Someone should fix it, really.”

“You’re older,” Rose said.

The Doctor nodded.

“New friends,” Rose added.

“‘Course,” the Doctor said.

Without another word, Rose tossed her gun to the side and pulled the Doctor into a hug, pressing their bodies together. The Doctor was the same height as her now-- she got to put her head right on Rose’s shoulder. Rose held her tight, and she felt a part of herself break down. She had forgotten how nice Rose always smelled, and the feeling of her soft hair against the Doctor’s cheek, and the way she pressed as close to the Doctor as she could.

And then Rose pulled away, leaving the Doctor to the cold truth.

“You have to go,” she said. “Find the Doctor.”

“You’re the Doctor,” Rose said.

The Doctor shook her head.

“You’re not looking for me,” she said.

“I know,” Rose said. She hesitated, something unfamiliar flickering on her face. “Can I come with you, though? Just for this visit? And then I’ll be on my way, of course, I just—”

“Of course,” the Doctor said. “That okay, fam?”

“Still not entirely clear what’s happening,” Yaz said.

“We could always use some extra company,” Graham said.

“Deffo,” Ryan agreed.

“Brilliant,” the Doctor said. “Everyone, this is Rose Tyler. She’s absolutely brilliant and I’m pretty sure a little bit lost. Which is also brilliant! I do my best work when I’m lost.” She turned and started walking. “Coming, gang?”

It was strange, having Rose back. It felt like nothing had changed, in some ways— Rose was the same, after all, literally pulled out of a moment in time. But it was different— the Doctor was different, her friends were different, her experiences were different. Yaz, Ryan, and Graham didn’t even know who Rose was; the Doctor didn’t like to mention her old life. She had made too many mistakes, and she was trying to start again.

(Not that anything she had done with Rose had been a mistake. Even the end had been peaceful, as endings went.)

The trip was short, all too short. They visited the village, the Doctor caught up with her friends there, they asked her and her friends to spend the night, and she got one glorious night of sleeping with Rose in her arms before they woke up together early the next morning, Rose already preparing the dimension cannon.

As she watched Rose prepare to leave, the Doctor felt a little like she and Rose were ghosts. The morning light seemed intangible through the window of the room they had shared, and Rose was so exactly the way the Doctor remembered her. The feeling, too, of waking up with the smell of Rose’s hair in her nose, was familiar, and something the Doctor had long written off as an experience she would never have again.

“I hope you find him soon,” she told Rose. “Se misses you.”

“Do you miss me?” Rose asked. She hesitated. “How long as it been?”

“Thousand years,” the Doctor said. “Give or take.” She paused, trying to convince herself not to say what she was going to say next.

It was no use.

“I still miss you,” she blurted.

“I know you can’t tell me what happens,” Rose said, “but— am I happy? In the end?”

“I don’t know,” the Doctor said. “Really. I think you are, though.”

“But not with you,” Rose finished.

“Can’t tell you that,” the Doctor said. “Sorry.”

“Am I going to find him?” Rose’s voice cracked.

“Can’t tell you that either,” the Doctor said. “But you’ve got quite a lot going for you. Ooh, I can give you a hint, though. How do you feel about hints?”

“I’ll take anything,” Rose said.

“Lock on to Donna Noble,” the Doctor said. “His friend. She’s part of it.”

“Thanks,” answered Rose. She fiddled with a few dials on her gun. “Suppose I’d better go now.”

“Suppose so,” the Doctor agreed, ignoring the lump in her throat.

Rose looked up at her, and suddenly it hit the Doctor: she was never going to see Rose again. She had known that before, but she had managed to suppress it, forget it, and now it was sharply real again. A little awkwardly, she pulled Rose into a hug, reaching around the gun. Rose hugged her back without a word, and the Doctor felt herself saying goodbye, even as she said nothing.

She pulled away.

Rose was looking at her.

“Are you happy?” she asked. "In the end?"

“’Course I’m happy,” the Doctor said. “Got friends. Got my TARDIS.”

“But really, Doctor,” Rose said. “Are you happy?”

The Doctor paused.

“I don’t know,” she said, and that felt a lot more like the truth than she was comfortable with. “Doesn’t matter. Not your problem anymore. Go find your Doctor.”

Rose looked like she wanted to say something else, but she just nodded. Stoic and near-still, her fingers danced across the surface of her cannon, and then she was gone in a flash of light.

* * *

 “Who was she?” Yaz asked later, when they were all back on the TARDIS.

"An old friend,” the Doctor said. “I’ve got lots of old friends, Yaz. Comes with being so old, see?”

"She seemed nice,” Ryan said.

“She was brilliant,” the Doctor said. “Brilliant, and gone now. Anyway. Where should we go next? I’ve got all sorts of ideas.”

As she began her dance around the console, spitballing names of planets and countries and eras, she remembered what it had felt like to have Rose next to her for all that, and she bantered with Yaz, Ryan, and Graham, and she smiled.

It wasn’t all that much different, after all, having her new friends with her.

**Author's Note:**

> Catch me @ regenderate on tumblr or on my creative blog burclay!


End file.
